The Federal Government is set to provide solar-powered cold rooms in Kano for the preservation of tomatoes, the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said.

Mr Ogbeh made this known at the First National Tomato Stakeholders Summit in Kano on Thursday‎.

‎According to him, the cold rooms will be installed in about 15 locations in the state.

“In addition to that, the government will also provide cold trucks to transport tomatoes from one location to the other.”

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‎The minister added that Nigeria and Brazil had signed a 1.2 billion dollars credit scheme for the procurement of 10, 000 tractors for farmers; and to boost the agricultural sector.
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‎‎The minster said that the Bank of Agriculture would be re-positioned, adding that 40 per cent of the shares would go to farmers.

He urged farmers, youths and women to buy shares in the bank‎ because the government intended to put a five per cent interest on agriculture loan.

The President of Nigeria Agribusiness Group, Sani Dangote, said that tomato accounted for about 60 per cent of global vegetable production at 177 million tonnes in 2016.